The term “mentoring” sounds so official, but it’s a powerful concept that everyone—including freelancers—should become more familiar with. If you don’t currently have a mentor in your professional life, it’s time for you to get on board and start learning from someone who has gone before you.
The value of mentorship
As a freelancer, it’s easy to feel alone. You don’t have an employer or coworkers—at least in the traditional sense—and you sometimes spend entire workdays isolated in your home office, or only communicating with clients and peers via email and phone. A mentor doesn’t fill all of the gaps, but the right person can help you evolve in your business and professional life.
As Rush University’s Women Mentoring Program notes, “Your goals can be nurtured by those who preceded your path and know the way.” This is perhaps the single greatest benefit of mentorship. It allows you to work with someone who has gone before you and has a good idea of what you need in order to reach your goals. But that’s not all a mentor does. The right one will also keep you motivated by holding you accountable.
“Your mentor is probably a step, two or three ahead of you, which means that their schedule is two or three times busier than yours,” entrepreneur Aleia Walker explains. “If you continually show up unmotivated and unchanging, it will get easy for them to drop you off of their schedule.
Having a mentor can be particularly helpful for a freelancer because they know what the grind is like. If you’ve been strategic in selecting your mentor, then they’ll also have a past as a freelancer and know what it’s like to work hard for every single client and struggle through the feast or famine nature of revenue cycles.
Another benefit of having a mentor is the potential for access. If you develop a healthy, long-term relationship with your mentor and prove that you’re skilled and ambitious, your mentor will grow fond of you. And considering that they likely have a lot of experience, they likely also have a lot of connections that you can tap into for networking purposes. Getting referrals from your mentor can go a long way toward building up your freelance business.
Freelancers: Find your mentor
As a freelancer, how do you go about finding a mentor? There are a variety of ways—and it happens naturally much of the time—but here are a few specific suggestions:
Start with your personal network. Is your uncle in the business? Was your favorite college professor previously in the same line of work as you? Does a former colleague of yours have experience in this area? You’d be surprised who you know within your circle of influence.
You might not directly know someone, but do you have a mutual connection? If you’re familiar with the concept of six degrees of separation, then you’re aware that you’re likely to be able to connect yourself to almost anyone in the world through mutual connections. Leverage this to your benefit!
Another option is to join local groups for freelancers in your niche. Not only will you find people going through the same things as you, but you’ll also cross paths with more experienced people.
While face-to-face is always best, who says you can’t find mentors online? These days, there are plenty of online communities, social media groups, and forums where you can find guidance.
Every freelancer should consider having a mentor. One mentoring relationship might look different than the next, but it’s important to have someone who can feed you their knowledge and experience. Are you making it a point to find your person?
This story was submitted by Larry Alton and does not constitute the views or opinions of Upwork.
The post Why Every Freelancer Should Consider Finding a Mentor appeared first on Upwork Blog.
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